201 Comments

General CommentI can't believe everyone is obsessed with sex so much...it's true, some (very few, in fact, of maynard's TOOL songs have to do with sex...many more of his apc have to do with sex) TOOL songs have to do with sex as a metaphor or as an abuse (prison sex), etc., but most of Maynard's songs have intellectual meaning, philisophical meanings, ideological meanings...as does pushit. Pushit simply has to do with Maynard's internal struggle with his past and that of religion (Christian Baptist in particular). The infant mentioned in the song is in part himself in his youth and representative of the infant Jesus Christ. The ideas and values preached to a young Maynard really confused him because of the abusive relationship his stepfather (the one who was preaching) had with him. He associates a harmless, loving, defenseless infant with himself as a child, but he still hates himself for letting that abuse happen...he wants to get away from himself and that time in his life. The infant haunts him...it's an image that stays with him always, partly from what was preached to him. It's an image that tells him to love those who have wronged him (forgive them), an image that dictates the way he SHOULD (whether the right way or the wrong way) live his life but that he can't face up to because it is just to painful. Jesus was abused in some of the most wicked ways and yet, he forgave all those who maimed him. Maynard disagrees with this at the time this song was written. He holds THE GRUDGE and wheres it like a crown.

General CommentFor me this song, as with many tool songs is about breaking patterns of negative, and often abusive behaviour - whether it be towards the self, another person, or on a social level. It says that the capacity to damage is often unintentional but inevitable if you dont actively overcome the negative aspects of yourself, whatever the cause of those traits is.

Thus pushit may be interpreted as a relationship whereby two personalities bring the worst out of each other even though they are apparently inseperable, and dependent on one another. The only way to end the pattern is for both to die and be reborn.

General CommentI love the multiple ways you can interpret this song. You can see it, shallowly, about sex, wade into the waters and say it's about a complicated relationship between two lovers, or, as I prefer, you can dive deeply and say it's about the relationship between two characters within one body. These characters are fighting for control. Not necessarily two personalities as if he is a schitzo, but more so that you can't decide who you are or want to be and you change for other people and distort who you are for them, and then finally deciding to take control in the end, even if sometimes you loved your "alternate person" that you were pretending to be.

I've noticed a trend in Maynard to be able to see things from an immateria* plane of
existence. I really want to go with the notion that all of you are right in the different levels of understanding this song, everything from a relationship with a lover to a relationship with self or even, as mentioned above, a relationship with the all (DMT - experience).

What I get from it is that this song is a direct relation with the notion of "self" and the relationship (regardless of what with) that affects the self. Whether this play is acted out with a lover, an inward spiritual trip where one is talking to the multiplaned self or even just a relationship with a drug or more specifically, ANYTHING that affects you by becoming apart of who you are. In that since, it's a surrender to the notion that these relationships are the foundation of what makes us human and alive.

*Yes, I'm referring to the one beautifully explained in Promethea. Google if you've never read as it will help anyone understand the concepts of Magick, Crowley, and is a good starting guide into the paths of shamanic vision and how mythology and archetypes define people in a much truer since than we're taught in Western schooling.

General CommentThe Yin Yang sums up these lyrics pretty well. Polarity, duality, energies combing to become greater than the sum of their parts or canceling each other out, always containing some part of the other within themselves. Light and dark, self and other, being and non-being, male and female, or even just two people in a relationship regardless of gender. It's the magnetic push-pull phenomenon. This can be applied to many spectrums/polarities and interpreted in many different ways.

General CommentI hate when people say Maynard is a god. This sounds so stupid coming from an actual Tool fan. He is a human being just like you or I. Of couse he IS in the greatest band in the world, and has gone through life experiences that make him a person the we can learn from. Although sometimes I wonder about Tool's true meaning. never-the-less, there is some value to be seen in Tool songs, but not so much that we should follow him blindly!

General Commentthink of Maynard and Jimmy (the eleven year old boy) as the two characters to this and the gap as the place where they will be combined, where one and one are one. Then see what you come up with.

My InterpretationI believe this to be about the painful schism of leaving the home of your mother. She has made you her life, But that life WILL kill you as a person. If it was up to her, she would still be wiping your asshole as a 25 year old. "remember I will always love you, as I tear your fucking throat away," you love your mom, but you can't be under her thumb forever, even if it kills her.

Song FactMaynard himself said that this song is about identifying the cycle of abuse within yourself. The lyrics quite obviously show that. You may interpret the song in any way you wish, but the man himself already gave the meaning.

General CommentMy favorite Tool song. It's not piece of mind, it's peace of mind. I interpret this to be someone trying to end a relationship or get out of something but he or she is trapped and can't get out. This is one of themost brilliantly written songs ive ever heard.